On Wednesday, November 16th, the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI*) hosted Dr. Sheila Smith of the Council on Foreign Relations for a virtual seminar as part of its “Japan Politics & Society” multidisciplinary public speaker series. Dr. Smith spoke in her capacity as chair of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and the U.S. advisors to the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON), a binational advisory panel of government officials and private-sector members.
In light of downward trends in U.S.-Japan student exchange exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Smith provided insight into the work key U.S. organizations do to promote greater engagement with Japan. She first discussed JUSFC, a grant-making federal agency that supports research, education, public affairs and exchange as well as scholarly, cultural and artistic activities between Japan and the United States. In recent years, JUSFC has been particularly committed to building regional consortia and supporting underserved communities with lack of access to study abroad opportunities.
Next, Dr. Smith provided an overview of CULCON, a U.S.-Japan bilateral commission formed in the wake of the 1960 “Anpo” (U.S.-Japan security treaty) protests to strengthen bilateral ties via people-to-people exchange. She explained how CULCON’s current working groups are focused on improving information access and subnational diplomacy. The latter, in particular, reflects the ways in which local organizations, partnerships, and networks that span several economic sectors have important roles to play in U.S.-Japan relations.
Dr. Smith emphasized that a major challenge facing U.S.-Japan educational exchange is the declining number of funding sources available for academic research in area studies. However, she noted that career opportunities related to Japan are far greater than in the past, as the U.S.-Japan partnership is increasingly broad and inclusive of multiple industries in both the public and private sector. Finally, she encouraged students to refer to NichiBei Connect as a hub for jobs, fellowships, and other Japan-related opportunities.
After concluding her remarks, Dr. Smith engaged in a brief exchange with 21JPSI Director Adam Liff, followed by an open Q&A with the global audience of roughly 40 faculty, students, and community members from across the United States and the world.
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*The 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) was launched at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in 2018. Under the leadership of Founding Director and HLS faculty member Adam Liff, 21JPSI aims to invigorate and expand research, teaching, and programming on contemporary Japanese politics, society, and international (esp. U.S.-Japan) relations, and to educate, raise awareness, and debate policy responses to the various political, social, and foreign policy challenges that Japan faces in this extremely dynamic era of 21st-century change. Seeded by a generous $900,000 grant from the Japan Foundation, in its first five years 21JPSI has enabled a new tenure-track faculty line in contemporary Japanese politics and society; facilitated the creation of four new courses on contemporary Japan; launched a new multidisciplinary speaker series on Japanese Politics and Society, national conferences and webinars on U.S.-Japan relations, and academic manuscript workshops; and funded graduate fellowships and faculty travel grants to support field research in Japan. For more information, please see https://jpsi.indiana.edu/ or write to jpsi@iu.edu.